My Son the Fanatic (1997)

I disagree with the notion that this film tries to do too much, I do agree that this film is a character study, an exceptional one. Om Puri is eminently watchable throughout. The film falsely dresses itself up as a comedy at the outset, then dabbles with an estranged father-son drama, veers toward a topical political fanaticism-cum-fascism treatise, flirts with a romance, all as a way to just keep your eye on that character study.More important than huge issues is the story of one man.So even when I found myself trying to do too much with the film while watching it, aligning the German businessman and Farid's fanatics both bruising to women and both desiring to remake that neighborhood for their own ulterior motives, I kept coming back to Parvez. Both the German and imam want to order Parvez about, but it is his sense of right and wrong, clearly flawed and at times hypocritical, that resonates most with me.The choice of having him be a taxi driver is excellent, someone surrounded by people in his job...but isolated from the at the same time. The character study is augmented not just by Puri's performance, but by having really excellent actors as foils to him. I find myself very curious about Minoo, Fizzy as well as Farid and Sandra of course. Even Stellan Skarsgard's Schitz will his fans I suspect, I was definitely curious about his plans.But I think Hanif Kureish has no plans for a segue, this film is not only about one man, but just this one moment in his life as well.7.5/10 Thurston Hunger

We watched this in English class, after having read the short story, written by Hanif Kureishi. Going by how powerful the original text is, this is somewhat unimpressive. I think the real problem is that the short story was so compact, so rich in detail yet so brief, and it was thoroughly well-told. There are always problems when one lengthens a short story, and that fact is very evident here. There just isn't enough good material. There are attempts made at drama that fall flat, often due to the lack of proper build-up to them. Film requires more drama, stronger feelings. Maybe the story just wasn't suited for the medium. The original had the lead character's son filled with hatred, one instilled from an invisible enemy, leading to much frustration in the father. The ending was almost sublime in its pure emotion, the release experienced. Here, this enemy has gotten a face and a body, the hatred in the son isn't as credible(partially due to the son's occasional weakness, which stands in stark contrast to the strength of his convictions, both herein and in the original), and the ending is... just not anywhere near as strong as that of the book(it even messes up the original ending, by including the same scene, deprived of its powerful emotion, near the conclusion of the story here). Characters are added, some for little reason. Breaks of comedic relief are inserted, presumably to ease the heavy message, themes and story of the film. I suppose this could have been a good addition, but it just takes away from the serious nature of it. The plot is good, if some of the new material seems of little interest. The focus has shifted some; the film is entirely about Parvez, and how he relates to those around him. The pacing is decent enough, it doesn't drag too noticeably. The cinematography and editing is fine. It would be difficult to claim that it tries too hard, since it hardly tries at all. In spite of all the negatives, I'm glad to have seen this film, and I wish Kureishi more luck with feature films in the future... and I certainly will keep my eyes open for his other films. He's a quite gifted writer, I think the main problem here was that this story did not fit the medium and length of feature film. I recommend this to any fan of stories that deal with the cultures, in particular conflicts between them. 7/10

After hearing about the terrible London blasts, which happened just a few days ago, the first thing which came to my mind was this movie. I watched a few years ago and loved it. Doubtless, I don't agree with B24: this is not a comedy at all, and it's nothing to share with "East is East". This movie is extremely forward-looking, not only because it – somehow – anticipated the "Clash of Civilization", but also because it gives you an extremely good description of all the difficulties that the first generation of Western-born people have to face.The character has to face reality: he is sure that he will never be able to be a real British (Western) citizen: despite his father's efforts and open-mind, the guy is too young to realize that if you don't accept yourself first, you will hardly find out people ready to welcome you. This is why he finds it more convenient (and much easier) to be surrounded by other Pakistani people. Among all the characters, the portrait of the "Imam" is very good: he is shown as an hypocritical man, always ready to blame the West, but still living in the UK, where he can get anything he wants: women, sex, movies… all those same things that – he says – are supposed to represent our flaws. But perhaps these people must forget something: despite their words, we're not afraid!

When Parez's son Farid gets engaged to the daughter of Chief Inspector Fingerhut it is the proudest moment of his life. Outside of this beacon of progress, Parez lives in a darker world as a taxi driver, who's main client is a prostitute called Bettina who services Johns in the back of his cab at times. While he becomes closer in his friendship to Bettina, he also introduces her to a new client (businessman Mr Schitz). His drinking increases and his empty life is exposed when Farid turns his back on his fiancé and his western life to study with a fundamentalist Islamic movement in the town.With a title and a plot that suggested a look into the family dynamics as a Pakistani boy born in the west turns to a more extreme side of his new religion. This aspect is a part of the film and, given recent events it is an interesting aspect but this film is more of a character study of Parvez who finds himself lost in the middle of the two extremes – his son's new religion and the religion of sex and debauchery as revealed to him by Mr Schitz. In the middle of these two lines and increasingly unsure of where he stands, Parez finds himself alone and looking at a life where he sinks ever further into his alcohol-driven depression, with the few moment he finds pleasure all turned into further depression by the views of others. It doesn't all hang together as well as I would have liked but Parez's story is consistently engaging and he as a character is very interesting. The story speaks generally about his struggle with his life: rejection by his son, disgust from his peers, a job going nowhere, a life of no pleasure. Parez blinds himself to so much and this is shown from the very first moment of the film where the Fingerhuts register only disapproval at him and his family.The subplots are not just used to contrast with one another; they are also interesting in their own right. Some of it doesn't totally work but it all functions well together with the hub of the film being Parez. If we had not felt for him then all the rest of this film would have come tumbling down but luckily the script writs his drifting personality very well and it is impossible not to sympathies with him even if we have not lived enough to totally empathise. With this script working for the character it also greatly helps that an actor like Puri is there to deliver it. As is so often the case, Puri delivers a great performance and really does the writing justice. He is the core of the film and it is one of his best performances. Unfortunately he is not as well supported, even if everyone is OK. Griffiths was a surprise find but her accent is not as good as her American one in Six Feet Under. Her performance is a bit dry and lacking character, she certainly didn't really convince me that she was a working girl on the cold streets of a northern town. Skarsgard is another strange find and he has little to do – his character is a bit empty because he is given an extreme to portray and that is what he does. Kurtha is OK as he makes his 'extreme' a little more accessible and real. Desai is in the background but she is good in her role. Generally the supporting cast are good and are realistic representatives of the Pakistani community but the film totally belongs to Puri, who is about as good as I've seen him here.Overall this is a good film mainly because Parez holds it all together. He is a well-written character but he is also really well delivered by Puri. With such a good character at the core the rest falls in place despite some weaknesses and the end result is a film that is occasionally amusing but manages to be much better as Parez's story – interesting, engaging and surprisingly moving. It may not be perfect but it is a film that is worth seeing and worth finding.